Fuck that. We aren't even fucking close to becoming a society like 1984 or Fahrenheit 451 or any of those post-apocalyptic books. Get off your fucking conspiracy soapbox and realize that we still have it pretty fucking good compared to the characters in these books.
Either way, one thing that I'm seeing in this thread is a bunch of classics. And while I'm not refuting the classic-ness of these books, too much of them can get quite tiring.
I am pretty experienced with the public library and their lack of anything interesting, but here are some things that I did find there that I loved.
Check out anything by Terry Pratchett. He's a British author who's very much like Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy....there's a recommendation too) in the vein that he takes kooky kooky ideas and puts relevance into it. It'll make you fucking think.
Best Terry Pratchett book? Good Omens.
It's written with Neil Gaiman (responsible for the amazing Sandman comics series). Basically, it's all about two friends who happen to be a demon and an angel. They discover that the apocalypse is going to be scheduled because of a prophecy book made by a witch. It's absolutely hilarious (with guest appearances by the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse) and amazingly intricate at the same time, but it's not hard to read at all. I've read it about 3 times, and I know that I'll read it again.
Next up: Nick Hornby. Get any book he has at the library, he's a fucking genius. Best book you need to get by him first is About A Boy. I would recommend High Fidelity, but they don't have it at the library. Anyway, this guy's a British author too, but he takes candid looks at personalities, real personalities. Hornby is one of my favorite writers today, so check out anything by him.
David Sedaris: Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day: Each of his books are cut into chapters which are small stories (vignettes). They're ridiculously hilarious, oftentimes causing the reader (or at least me) to wonder if he isn't exaggerating, or if he's just completely making it up.
Chuck Klosterman: Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: He sometimes gets annoying (he bashes Coldplay like no other in the first chapter, but you can't say it was unfounded) but again, it's a really great social scene book. He's the editor of a major magazine that just suddenly slipped my mind. But anyway, check it out.
Others? Dave Eggers: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (can sometimes be pretentious, but can also bring you to tears), Brian Micheal Bendis Torso (this one's a graphic novel, a great crime fiction comic book that's available at the library), and Alan Moore The League Of Extraordinary Gentleman (the movie sucks this graphic novels dick and then kisses its feet).
You won't regret taking up any of these recommendations.
And if you do, you don't know shit.
|